Wow the first seminar I will host is coming up fast. Just a few weeks away.

Working through all the logistics and getting everything together has been exciting. Finding a great venue, lining up hotels, transportation, and other logistics are things I’ve not done much for other people. Traveling the world for work I’ve done plenty for myself and worked many an event but never hosted one myself. I have tried to use my experiences to keep everyone informed and coordinated. Things are falling in line in those ways. S’all good.

Reflecting upon the journey I’ve been on to get to the point where I’m hosting a seminar amazes me. I was fascinated with martial arts, yes me grasshopper, from a very young age. Being that I was spectacularly shy I never pursued anything until after college graduation. Apparently having time and some money led me to try first Aikido then Taekwondo. My intention was to get a black belt because that meant you knew “stuff” right? A job change led me to South Carolina and while visiting many schools of many types and finding them more focused on money or sport I was still searching when a now good friend tried to talk me into going down to the place he trained. Yes Sid I’m talking about you! I resisted for a while as “we train in a garage converted to a dojo” that belongs to a guy that trains in another system sounded kind of goofy to me. Alas I succumbed to his offer and went to class. That first night hooked me and now over twenty years later, four trips to Okinawa, traveling around the country for seminars I find myself hosting a seminar. It was never me dream to teach let alone run a dojo. I am just a student. I teach because of the obligation I feel towards my instructors that simply requested I help keep the art alive. Don’t get me wrong. I have quite a healthy ego in many areas but find that studying this art has made me more humble than I’ve ever been before.

Just some ramblings but it has been so long since I said I would blog and only made one entry I thought it was time. There will be more after the seminar and hopefully in the future.

I have made some great friends along this journey and expect to make more…

I combined two things there…the geek first computer statement and my first entry in a Life Protection Art blog.

I have become inspired by my fellow karateka Adam who has been hosting his blog for quite a while now and the interactions we’ve had has been positive and thus I have added this to my website.

Now just to figure out what topic to start with?

How about starting with a new student? What do you cover first? Punches? Blocks? Tuite? I tend to start with punches because most people like to punch or think that is what a fight is all about and that must be how you protect yourself. That is not the case but that is what I think the impression is for most people that haven’t had any training.

I’ve found that most people without training punch like they see in the movies and on TV. Of course we know that isn’t even close to how you punch. To quote my good friend “I’m still learning how to throw a punch.” This after around 40 years of learning. I don’t have that much but his point is very valid and that’s why I start with teaching punches. This ties in quite nicely with the order of the kata as Taika had us learn them. He started us on Naihanchi Shodan which is traditionally a blackbelt kata. Why? My understanding is that he did this because people tend to practice the first kata they learn the most often throughout their life. Thus starting with punches is something they will practice.

Now that brings up a quandary. Really I should start with blocks as the first rule is “don’t get hit.” That is why I follow up the second class with adding in blocks. When it comes down to it the punch is a block and the block is a punch. But that is for another entry.